The Price of Ink
by Lady Legos
Summary: Poor, idiotic Hatter. Then again, it's not his fault he couldn't remember enough from his past lives to be prepared. Prepared for a whole entire new journey that would envolve a certain illusionary feline who's not quite as mad as he would like to be.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

There are two things one would need to know about the room.

The first is that it was underground. As to how and why it was underground, that is a completely different story and would take way too long of a time to tell at the moment. Maybe on another day.

The second is that it wasn't a particularly large room, around the size of a normal living room. Even though the contents were enough to fill a much larger space, everything fit quite nicely with plenty of elbow room left over.

And thirdly, the room was mainly occupied by cats. Well, technically cats on pillows, and there were quite a lot of pillows, but there were also quite a lot of cats. And seeing as several cats is more of an anomaly than several pillows, the statement that "the room was mainly occupied by cats" brings attention more than "the room was mainly occupied by pillows."

…Actually, that does sound a bit weird.

But the fact the room is occupied by pillows and cats is not as important as the single other being that inhabited the room at the current moment. Not that you would be able to see him at first. Not that he really cared if you saw him or not. Not that you would be in the room looking at him in the first place, but for the sake of the story let's just pretend.

The majority of the cushions were spread across the room evenly and randomly, felines sleeping on them separately or in groups. That was, all the cushions except for the enormous pile that rested in the center of the dimly lit room.

And as the amethyst eyes – and yes, those were not the normal, round pupils one would expect from a human - opened right in the middle of the pile; the owner of them was quite bemused. There was a pillow on his nose. And yes, there were several of the things covering his whole entire body (well, besides the eyes – and that was just lucky convenience made exclusively by the authoress for a nice visual), but the fact that there was one on his nose was particularly annoying. He liked his nose, and having it covered up by something was not very amusing.

And so he sat up. A shower of pillows rained down upon several of the felines below, who woke up rather agitated as they moved out of the way in a manner of fashion the only a cat can truly belay – the "I'm too important to be bothered by this nonsense" thing they do by simply raising a tail as one walks.

Blinking a few times, the person on top of the pillows looked as his wristwatch casually, and then did a double take. Damn it, he _hated_ when he overslept. At least it had only been fifteen years this time.

Brushing a stray bang out of his face, the figure suddenly slouched as he remembered exactly what had woke him up. Speaking of his hair, it was a little strange; the black mass had somehow been sculpted to imitate, well, cat ears. And it did a pretty fine job of it as well, the points barely rising above the rest of the mop so that it was merely a suggestion of feline attribute. A pretty strong suggestion, but it wasn't a demanding yell. Subtle enough to be realistic, but just the right amount of noticeability to draw the comparison.

Rolling his eyes in a rather irritated manner, the man swung his legs out of the pile and positioned himself so that it seemed like he was sitting on couch. A rather strange couch, but still a couch. Now that he was in a more suitable position, he could fully contemplate the task ahead. This of course included going over the reasons of why it had to be done.

Really, though, how on earth had that dolt forgotten? It was probably the most important law of their world, of any world other than Earth. It was implanted into the mind at birth, the Laws of the Ink went deeper than instinct. How then could that ignoramus not remember?

….Perhaps Hatter had simply not regained the memories from his previous incarnations yet. That would explain a lot. Chuckling a little, the man on the pillows imagined the look on the hatman's face when he would realize that unless he paid the Price, he would die. As well as his little Alice – yes, _that _was certainly a new variation in this loop. Perhaps things were getting a little out of order, maybe it was time for an Edit.

Not that it mattered to him, in his entire cat-like glory. He was one of the few who did not have to go through the bothersome pattern of death and rebirth; only regaining memories after the Alice had done her job – knowing about their death right before it happened.

It didn't matter, though; none of this mattered except for part that the Ink itself was apparently looking for a change. It had asked him in its strange matter, instructed him to go and tell the idiot what to do. And that would take a lot of convincing, seeing as during the last story loop he and the hatman hadn't exactly gotten along so well, to put it one way. And for some reason the impression of a person was always left behind onto the new reincarnation. No, the hatman would most likely not be happy to see him.

Part of the reason he was being instructed to do this was probably because of the newfound love between the two characters. They would just keep hooking up again and again, generation after generation until they finally remembered and made an Edit. The Ink probably didn't want to wait that long, love was a messy business and could become bothersome if left alone for too long.

Sighing, the man casually leapt from the mound, gracefully landing on his feet and not breaking stride. Pushing through the sea of felines, he headed towards the closet doors at the far corner of the room. Right now he was only dressed in his usual black slacks, shoes and undershirt. The only other thing was the gem that resembled a drop of blood, strung on a tight cord around the man's neck. And that little bauble was always present, no matter the circumstances.

Nevertheless, the man wanted his jacket. And as he dramatically opened the doors, reached an pulled out the garment, one would notice that it was a very, very wicked awesome jacket. It looked almost like two separate ones, a black and red stripe with a flared color over a purple and black trench coat. The thing had to be pulled over the head; it had an extremely complex zipper and belt system that the man did not feel like dealing with at the moment. The jacket fit snugly against his body, and when completed with a nice red belt it looked very suede.

After making sure the violet-ended sleeves were sufficiently flared out, his hands grabbed two more items that looked quite a lot like swords before they disappeared into the flurry of fabric surrounding the person. They were designed with the jacket, made to fit into it so that they were completely invisible and non-encumbering until the man decided he needed to use them. And even then it only took only flick of the wrist to ensure their appearance.

With this finished he turned and adjusted a few knobs on a wall panel, pressing a few buttons to ensure the survival of the other felines during his little trip. Getting to and through the Looking Glass wouldn't be a problem; the ability to turn invisible had its advantages.

Turning and striding towards the large double-doors that marked the exit out of the dusky room, he turned his head slightly before he opened them and continued into the rest of the world.

"Goodbye, my sweets," he whispered as a farewell to his furry companions. Then followed his trademark smile, one that revealed far too many teeth than many were comfortable with. A brief chuckle escorted him out into the darkness of the underground world.

Yes, the Cheshire Cat was off on the start a very interesting journey indeed.

**Author's Note: Yes, I know I'm far overdo for an update on some of my other stories. Get over it. Anyways, as to why I'm writing this one... Well, blame Kitty for it. She told me about Alice, gave me the Youtube links and I was obsessed. And as she experienced with her story about this (you should go read it, its very good), when you become obsessed with a story and have characters jumping about in your head begging to be written, they can be very hard to ignore. And as to why I chose this particular plot...**

**Heh, I'll wait till the first chapter to tell you. It shouldn't take too long to be released, and will be very interesting. Things usually are when they involve a man who can turn into a cat. Oops, I don't think I was supposed to say that. Ah well, there's a lovely spoiler gift to all you who are actually bothering to read this. **

**So, did you like it? Op ions are welcome, if you see anything wrong (other than spelling and grammar errors, we're talking plotholes and the such) please tell me. The green words on the button below are calling you. Heck, just say "Hi" if your feeling lazy. We all have those days, me included. ;)**

**I'm putting a picture of Cheshire on my profile, if want to take a looksie since I'm not very reliant on my descriptive skills myself. Have fun, and happy holidays! **

**And yes, Kitty, I finally learned how to spell usual. Hah.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/n Sorry for the shortness, but this was really supposed to be the first have of one chapter. I felt like I needed to update, however, so here it is. No drumroll needed.**

The dream started out as usual.

Alice was running. From who or what, she didn't know. She was running away from something, and she was in Wonderland. Sometimes the scenery changed, but it was always the same world. Sometimes she would have a glimpse of someone else, usually Hatter, being enveloped by a strange dark cloud. And as always, right before she jumped, she heard the voice.

"I told you so," it said, in a very sing-song voice. Then Alice jumped off the edifice, into oblivion.

Waking, the girl was breathing quite heavily. At least she hadn't screamed this time, her mother would always come dashing in the room trying to comfort her. And how could Alice explain that she didn't want comfort?

No, what she wanted, what she needed, was answers. And perhaps she was getting closer to them. "I told you so." Besides the integral arrogance of the quote, it implied that was _her_ fault the whole entire situation had happened.

Alice wasn't liking this voice that much.

~*~

Earth was such an odd place.

Pretty lame, too. It was so terribly noisy, and the air was practically made up of gas fumes. Plus, the majority of transportation moved on the ground. How unoriginal.

Because, really, who wants to live in a world without flying flamingo motorcycles? No one, that's who.

Other than the obvious, the land itself was much like the cities back home, with the bonus of not having the be afraid for your life every time you step out of a building. Then again, that made things even more dull.

Cheshire continued his walk, resisting the urge to yawn. Boring didn't even begin to cover this place. Well, if everything went well he wouldn't have to stay here much longer. If anything went badly, however… He still wouldn't be here much longer, but with the knowledge that he would have to return again in a few years.

Ugh.

Slipping into an alleyway, the Cat had managed to come so far unnoticed, and would continue to do so unless he wanted to be. Moving to stand so that he was facing a brick wall, he ran a hand over a section, grinning as he found what he had been looking for.

The trap was set. Now all he needed was for the prey to run…

~*~

"So where, exactly, are we going again?"

"Somewhere," Alice said, flicking her boyfriend's hat a she walked pass him out the door, red skirt blowing a little in the wind.

"Descriptive," murmured Hatter, fixing his hat and turning to follow the girl. This action was stopped very quickly, however, as the man proceeded to freeze and stare at the spot right behind her. "…We're _not_ in Wonderland, right?"

"No…" said the brunette, realizing that something was wrong.

"Then why, dare, is there an army of cats behind you?" he asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question as Alice never did answer it. Instead, she froze as well, listening very closely to whatever might lay behind her. Hatter knew not to joke about things like this, and then she heard a simple sound. It was small, even cute, really.

"Meow."

Alice ran, Hatter with her. Although it might have been more suspenseful for either of them to have said "Run" before, well, running, they both knew that was a simple time-waster. It's not like anyone was reading a story written about that moment, hoping for some dramatic effects to add to the feeling. And while we are on this track, let's just go ahead and say that there is also no chance that the previous sentence was both a mixture of foreshadowing and irony.

…Yeah, right.

I know some of you people out there are wondering why, exactly, would a group of cats be so fearsome and terrifying. Sure, maybe one cat by itself would be perfectly un-frightening, but the reader must consider the large number of the creatures present.

In the first wave there were around fifty sets fangs and claws.

When our two protagonists attempted to travel down a path that would lead them to a busy street, they ran into another battalion that contained perhaps a hundred felines.

And by the time they approached their final destination, the horde behind them had grown to somewhere between 500 and 1,000. That, my friend, is a _lot_ of cats. And they all came to a complete and utter stop when Hatter and Alice entered a certain alley.

After catching her breath, Alice looked back behind her and saw several hundred glistening eyes. "I guess we're going forwards, then."

"Yes, that would be an admiral decision," said a voice, and the brunette whirled around in surprise and instant recognition. It was the same voice from her recent dreams – well, nightmares, really. Hatter was already looking at the source with a bemused expression, as if he knew he should remember something but couldn't quite grasp it.

The man before them snorted at their expressions, before smiling gaily and continuing. "Now, from what I've heard you're not stupid enough to be bribed by the old candy trick so I'm not even going to try it."

"Candy?" Alice asked, and her voice had a whimsical tone to it as she slowly stepped forwards one step, Hatter following her motion.

Cheshire – who was the other person in the alleyway, of course, if you haven't been able to figure that out then I suggest you get your brain checked – simply stood there and looked stunned for a few seconds.

"Yeah… I take back what I just said," said Cheshire, before pushing a seemingly random brick on the wall. It pushed in, and the Secret Elaborate Panels disguised as bricks flipped to reveal mirrors.

Of course, by now Alice and Hatter had figured out that walking forwards wasn't the smartest thing they could have done. Of course, by now it was far too late - seeing as they couldn't move.

They funny thing about mirrors is that while with one you have to run into it to cross dimensions, two facing each other has a very different effect when combined with a certain mark – of which Cheshire had, of course. The light particles are caught in something similar to a vortex, bouncing back and forth continually faster as they go. The feeling isn't exactly pleasant to any organism caught in the middle. The light will start to take that thing's particles with it, until –

[insert obnoxious onomatopoeia here]

All gone to the world simply known as Ink.

**A/n Well, hope you liked it, nothing much to say here... . **

**Thanks to tomieharley, Kitty Fowl, and LunaDarkness for reviewing. Thanks to Kitty Fowl and SuchRidiculous Thoughts for favoriting. **

**Bye peeps! ~ Mystic**


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